Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Wells, payroll updates

The Toronto Star had an update on the Vernon Wells’ contract talks in today’s paper. Basically, the update is there is no update. Here is what Wells told the paper:

"When we do start talking, that’ll be exciting and something I’m looking forward to," Wells told the paper, "but I don’t think we’re in that big of a hurry right now. I think we have some other things we (the Jays) need to take care of before me. I still have another year, so I just want to see us continue to make the team better. My time will come."

So don’t expect Toronto to ink that much-anticipated extension with Wells right away. It is a priority, but it’s also something that doesn’t need to happen right out of the gates. Also, according to the Star, the Blue Jays don’t have any updated news on their payroll. So it remains at around $80 million until we hear otherwise.

UPDATE: A few hours after posting the above update, I talked to J.P. about a few things and also asked him about the payroll. Here is what he said:

"We have some money to work with and it’ll be defined by the time we get to the free agents. We should know in the next few weeks, but it’s not like we can’t do something."

So basically, by Nov. 12, when teams can start talking money with free agents, the Jays should be able to say what their payroll will be. Stay tuned…

UPDATE PART 2: Gregg Zaun filed for free agency on Monday. Only Bengie Molina is left to file.

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